don't look down
by KENZI-CHI
Summary: a whole load of action and suprises happens just because kazu lost his confidence. and here comes ikki to the rescue to try to boost him back up again!


Kazu watched silently as his teammates continued their personal training

Kazu watched silently as his teammates continued their personal training. He was training too, even earlier than the rest, but he stopped to observe. Everyone was training pretty differently, but of course they _were _pretty skilled at different things. Kazu looked around some more. The school's track was covered with dark marks and scratches from their relentless training.

"Kazu!" It was Ikki, calling from the opposite side of the field, "Come on! Let's have a race!"

"A-a race!?"

"Yeah, come on! Just the two of us!"

Kazu turned pink. _Why the hell did that make me feel good? _"Fine."

He made it over to Ikki in a few minutes and they both took their positions, "'Kay," Ikki replied without taking a look at Kazu, "whoever makes it to the other side of the field 'n back wins." Kazu nodded.

_Okay, maybe I have a chance. I'm pretty good at racing so… _The blond smiled to himself. _I'm also a little faster than Ikki… I could win if I- _

"On your mark!" Buccha called, snapping Kazu back to reality, "Get set! GO!!"

The two took off. They started off so powerfully that only a huge dust cloud took their place after they left. Today didn't seem like the best day to ride. It had just rained the night before so the air was a little heavier than usual. Especially if you were fighting against it like they were. Ikki was taking the lead which worried Kazu. _He's getting ahead… I need to speed it up… _The blond pushed harder until they were neck and neck. _Come on… Come on… _The air seemed to lighten up a bit while he was pushing and eventually he was taking the lead. Kazu smiled to himself once again. _I might win this! _

The end of the road was etching closer. _What should I do? Should I stop completely and then turn to start again? Or should I just make a huge U turn so I won't completely stop? Of course, if I do that then I'll be able to pick up speed faster… _Kazu turned his head to face Ikki behind him. The crow was smiling! Why? _Ikki can enjoy a race while I always have to think of it as competition between us. _Ikki glanced over at Kazu and smiled gently before facing forward again.

Kazu faced forward also and quickly made a sharp U turned. Surprisingly Ikki was a little slower and had to stop before going again. Now the blond had a pretty good head start. _Hey! Maybe I will still win this! _Kazu sped up and just when he was halfway Ikki called for him. "What!?" He didn't take the chance of looking back at him.

"Watch out!"

_What? What is he talking about? _There was nothing in front of him to crash into or anything that could run into him. What did he mean? "Ow!" Suddenly he felt a huge weight appear on top of him. He looked up to see a slight vision of Ikki before the boy jumped off. The pressure caused the blond to fall forward and he slid a couple of inches before stopping completely. Kazu sat up and rubbed his head, now realizing that his had was gone, "Why that dirty…" He looked up and was stunned. _Ikki… _Of course he was flying. Touching the sky. He was the only person he knew who could. But the crow reaching out as if he were touching it and it really looked like he was. How is it that Ikki could go to places so much farther than he could? There were more opportunities for him he knew. Ikki would leave, and leave Kazu behind.

God, Ikki had so much more opportunities than him. He's probably the only one holding him back. Kazu ran a hand through his hair before standing up. "And Ikki wins!" Onigiri called. Kazu knew that. He didn't have to look back to know that he had lost.

Kazu stood at the edge of the roof. Of course it's not like the edge wasn't blocked, there was a rail around it. He just knew this was the closest to the sky that he'd ever get to. The air felt so much better when it just brushed against his face rather than him racing against it. It felt cooler now considering that his sweat was much cooler now. Ah, how he felt level headed up here. He didn't feel a sense of complete relief considering he left his hat down there during training and he didn't feel like going back down to get it.

Before he was completely lost in his thoughts-, "Hey." Kazu didn't have to look behind him to know who it was.

Kazu sighed, "Hey. How'd you know where to find me?"

"Well… I saw you from the field. It's not a very useful hiding place if you look over the edge." Ikki laughed.

_Shit… _"What do you want?"

"Why the hell did you bail after the race? What's wrong with you?"

Kazu slumped further onto the railing, "Nothing."

"Could you please get away from the edge?"

"Look, if you came up here because you thought I was going to commit suicide or something, your wrong." Kazu turned to face him, "I'm just fine with the race. I don't care if you beat me." He looked down, "I don't care… if your number one at everything."

Ikki stepped forward, extending his arm, "Kazu-."

"Get away from me!" Kazu snapped which made Ikki flinch back, "I don't need you to pity me 'kay!?"

"Dude! Is this because-you're _jealous _of me!?"

He made it sound like it was such a childish thing to do. This made Kazu even angrier, but surprisingly, not at Ikki. Rage swelled up inside the boy, his face turning redder from the embarrassment. He tightened his already tightly fisted hands until beads of blood appeared on his knuckles. "Is everything such a game to you…?" Ikki paused, "It's like your talent is naturally born while I've had to work _so _hard to get where I am now! It's not fair…" Kazu glared up at Ikki, "I'll never be up to your level. I mean-!" He let his grip loosen as he looked up at the darkening sky, "When you flew! When you jumped off of me, the thing that hurt me was your skate… I barely felt your weight as if you really were flying."

"Kazu, you're fully aware that we both have different roads that we're traveling on. You need to stop comparing yourself to me. You're the fucking fastest member of our team!"

"And yet, I couldn't beat you in a race." Kazu fell to the ground.

"Yeah, but that's because you gave up before the race was over. If I hadn't done that jump, you would have won."

"Please." Kazu spat.

"Kazu." Ikki sighed.

"Look, I'll talk tomorrow." Kazu sat up and started towards the door before Ikki tried to reach out to touch Kazu again. He flinched back, "I told you to-!" Before he could finish he stepped back so far he lost control of his AT and threw himself over the railing. _Oh no… _He could hear Ikki's voice calling out to him, but the shock of falling off of the school building made his mind totally blank.

"**Kazu!**" He saw Ikki jump off of the edge with so much force he made it up to him in a few seconds. Kazu had never noticed how fast they were falling until Ikki brought him back to reality. He quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him a little closer, "Are you alright?" Kazu barely felt his nodded though he thought he did it correctly.

_Oh no… _Ikki wrapped his arms around Kazu and held him to his chest. A sudden comfort spread all over his body. He had never felt safer. But they were falling. The fall felt so long and they had yet to hit the ground. That didn't bring him comfort. _Ikki… He risked his life… Oh no… _Kazu buried his head deeper into the boy's chest as he wrapped his arms around him. _Damn, I'm so fucking useless! _

Before his thoughts could go anymore downhill he felt the air shift from under him and the sudden impact of the ground. He hit the ground so hard the air was knocked out of him. He inhaled deeply before coughing continuously until he was able to breathe again. His side ached so much when he pulled himself up. He looked around. They were right beside the school building where the plants and grass grew. He was sure they were falling straight to solid concrete.

_Kazu… _Kazu gasped. He swore he just heard his voice just now. He felt something shift just beside him and he looked down to see Ikki. "Ikki?" The blond turned Ikki to lie on his back. He couldn't believe Ikki was worse off than he was! His head was bloody and it wasn't stopping, and he was pretty badly bruised. "I-Ikki!" Kazu quickly placed his hand on the crow's chest only to pull it back quickly when he cried out in pain, "Ikki!"

Ikki opened them slightly to reveal his dim eyes until he forced himself to open them further. "Hey Kazu." He chuckled weakly, "Man, glad your okay."

Kazu sure as hell wanted to cry, but he didn't want to be like that, "Y-yeah."

"We're calling an ambulance!" Called Buccha from the other side of the building.

Ikki sighed as he sat up slowly, holding his side which he knew had been badly injured also, "What the hell are you getting up for!?" Kazu snapped.

"Why the hell shouldn't I?" Ikki replied back, "I sure as hell feel dizzy though."

"Stay down… Or you'll just make your condition worse."

"Please, Kazu! You know my head is pretty hard so it'll take a lot more than a fall from the school building to make me stay down." He laughed.

Kazu smiled weakly, "Yeah, you are pretty hardheaded. He sighed as he leaned against the school. Ikki soon followed, "I'm… sorry…" He replied after the silence.

"Hm? Why?"

"If it wasn't for me… I'd probably be the only one hurt right now. Damn… it seems like I always drag you down with me, Ikki."

"Is that… what was bothering you before? Dude, you're not keeping me down! You're one of the reasons why I'm up so high!" Ikki laughed.

Kazu sighed, "Your lying. You're just saying that."

"Yeah, maybe. But no… seriously, you have gotten me to where I am this far, even if it was only just a little. If you hadn't forced me to push so far to train along side you, I'd be worse off. You and my other friends have done a lot."

"Is that really how I've been helping you?"

"Yeah… Kazu, you're a lot further ahead of me then you think. Sure it may not be the sky, but… any other road, sure." Kazu smiled. "Oh!" Ikki hissed in pain as he struggled to dig into his pocket and pull out a dirty beanie.

"My-my hat!"

"Yeah, you lost while we were racing." Ikki exhaled deeply and turned to face Kazu completely, "Here." He pulled the hat over Kazu's head and smiled. "Man, you were right. I need to lay down for a bit."

Kazu watched as the crow slowly lay back on the plants that surrounded them, "Don't worry… an ambulance should be coming real soon."

Ikki closed his eyes slowly, "That's good…" His mouth parted a little for the boy to breathe and just the sight of him brought a smile to Kazu's lips. _He has to be in pain, but he doesn't show it… I still have along way to go I guess… _Ikki looked peaceful. Of course he would have looked better without the blood dripping from his head. 

Kazu leaned forward quickly, kissed the sleeping boy gently and sat up again and watched the darkened sky before drifting off too…

**Finished! And, wow, it only took me a couple of hours to finish this story! Whoo! The idea immediately went into my head after Crimson Vixen suggest it. Thank you! I kinda liked this story, (I sure as hell enjoyed writing it) but I know I could have done better on the racing scene. Oh well, practice may never make perfect, but it sure can make you better. More to come after my writer's block is over! **

**It was a pretty long one too, huh? 4 pages! Whoo! I'm so sorry Kazu! I made you and Ikki fall off of a building! T-T it seems I always have to make these two lovable creatures kiss in my stories huh? Just doesn't feel complete without it! **

**-Kenzi **


End file.
